125 Years Of Stories

DAYTON - When a building grows to be as old as the First Christian Church in Dayton, it collects stories.

The 125-year-old structure has stood on the corner of Third and Park streets in Dayton overlooking the schoolyard across the street for so long, it has seen generations of Columbia County residents come forth into the world, mature into adulthood and sometimes move on.

Nadine Warren, at age 84, is one who hasn't moved on.

" I was raised in this church, I consider it my church, and I just don't plan on going anyplace else," Warren said.

Warren, who attends service with her husband Robert, has been a member of First Christian Church since she was a young child from Baileysburg, a tiny community on North Touchet Road.

"I would ride into town in the back of my neighbor's pickup with the other kids," Warren recalled. "Of course, I don't do that anymore."

But she's never given up attending church. She and Robert married in 1952, and they raised four kids in the county. They farmed wheat more recently, but years ago it was asparagus. And Robert cut asparagus for Green Giant for a time.

"All that kept us real busy," Nadine Warren said.

Things have stayed busy at First Christian Church, too .

Next month, the members of the church will celebrate its 125th anniversary with a party on Sunday, February 6. The worship service will echo one which a member of the congregation may have heard on a Sunday morning in 1886. And a party in the evening, complete with period clothing, will further honor the building's history.

At the turn of the 20th century, the church was a small structure. In fact, it began even further back than that in Baileysburg. Churches in the Dayton and Waitsburg areas started with camp meetings enjoyed annually.

It was in 1881 that the first church organization in Dayton was formed. For a while they met in a small hall on Main Street over a downtown store.

An "energetic little Scotsman," from LeRoy, Pennsylvania, got the First Christian Church organized on February 7, 1886. There were 40 charter members and by March 19 a total of 123 members attended.

A $ 1,400, rectangular building was erected in Baileysburg. Sometime later the simple structure was relocated to town.

Over the years, it's grown to meet the needs of its community. Now there is a basement with a full kitchen and classrooms. There are additional entrances. Behind the scenes, hidden from the sanctuary, the building is a warren of passageways and back stairways - testimony to the constant growing, expanding and changing of the building.

Some things have stood the test of time, however. There are four large, stainedglass windows in the sanctuary that were crafted more than 100 years ago for the church. In 1984, they were appraised at a replacement cost of $75,000. Church leaders quickly saw the value in protecting their heritage, and in January 1985, the windows were re-cemented, cleaned, repaired and protected by a special, clear, outdoor covering for just over $4,000.

"The covering has kept the windows free from vandalism and has proven to be a good insulator to save on winter heating costs," according to a brief history of the church prepared in 1986 to commemorate the church's 100th birthday.

The warmth newcomers feel as they enter the First Christian Church can't all be attributed to the Plexiglas coverings on the stainedglass windows.

" Ma ny t hi ngs have changed over the years, but not the warmth of the people," said long-time congregation member Virginia Smith, who has attended with her husband, Fred, for close to 50 years since relocating to Dayton from Waitsburg following her marriage into the Smith family.

" I was very young of course, just 17 or 18," she said. "But what I remember is that they were wonderful, welcoming people."

Smith had previously attended the First Christian Church in Waitsburg.

"But we don't do choir as a normal thing anymore," she said. "We have a worship team and the band. The music is more contemporary. We do use the songbooks sometimes, but people seem happier with the worship team."

The doctrine Smith believes in, however, has remained the same. The motto of the First Christian Church is: "To know Jesus and to make Him known. We want to model the love of Jesus through our love for one another."

"It has not changed, it will not change," she said. "Those things are important."

The membership has declined, as it has in most churches. About 60 or so people make up the acting congregation of the church. But many are younger couples with families.

"We've tried to stay current," Smith said. "It's hard to get the younger generations to come in now, but we're trying."

It's a Party!

Sunday, February 6

First Christian Church on 3rd Street in Dayton.

Sunday Worship Service at 10:30 a.m. Commemorative Program at 5 p.m., complete with period clothing and historical insights. Dinner at 6 p.m. Reservations are requested.

Contact: 382-2966 or email dfcchurch@bmi.net